{"id":372587,"date":"2025-12-26T08:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T08:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372587\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T08:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T08:07:09","slug":"world-war-ii-vet-excited-to-perform-national-anthem-on-saxophone-for-islanders-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/372587\/","title":{"rendered":"World War II vet excited to perform national anthem on saxophone for Islanders-Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even at 104, Dominick Critelli is hitting all the high notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Floral Park super-senior saxophonist and World War II Army veteran will be performing the national anthem for the Islanders vs. Rangers game at UBS Arena on Saturday, marking yet another lifetime achievement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love this country,\u201d Critelli, who immigrated from a humble upbringing in Calabria as a little boy, told The Post. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t come to this country, I\u2019d be stuck with Mussolini.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38023344\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20231012_120933.jpg\" alt=\"Dominick Critelli, the 104-year-old who will play the national anthem on the saxophone on Saturday Dec. 27. \" class=\"wp-image-38023344\"  \/>Dominick Critelli will play the national anthem on the saxophone on Saturday, Dec. 27.  Courtesy of Dominick Critell<\/p>\n<p>Critelli, who says a nightly half-glass of wine has led to his centenarian status, was recently knighted by French President Emmanuel Macron for helping liberate the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It came decades after surviving both the Normandy landings and the Battle of the Bulge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe pins a medal on me, kisses me on both cheeks,\u201d Critelli recalled, \u201cand I ask, \u2018If I\u2019m a knight, where\u2019s my sword and horse?\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The talented jazz player Critelli \u2014 he was 86 when Isles rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer was born \u2014 earned a music degree at NYU before returning to Europe to fight the Axis powers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While eager to play for what\u2019s sure to be a sellout crowd, this won\u2019t be his biggest audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.75;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38023345\" width=\"443\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20231127_141434.jpg\" alt=\"Dominick Critelli\" class=\"wp-image-38023345\"  \/>Dominick Critelli will perform the national anthem with his saxophone. Courtesy of Dominick Critell<\/p>\n<p>That came while freeing the Netherlands of Nazi rule, when the staff sergeant performed atop a rolling tank to masses of ecstatic citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess, it must have been 50,000, 60,000 people,\u201d Critelli said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, I\u2019ve gone through so much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even at 104, Dominick Critelli is hitting all the high notes.\u00a0 The Floral Park super-senior saxophonist and World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,44554,5791,3617,575,85,36106,66046],"class_list":["post-372587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-long-island","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-veterans","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}